Lubricating cranks.



No. 634,204, Patented Oct. 3, |899. P. DIEHL. LUBRICATING GBANKS.

(Application led June 3, 1899.)

(No Model.) V

UNiTnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILIP vDIEI'IL, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGrNOR TO THE SINGERMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NE\V JERSEY.

LUBRICATING CRAN KS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 634,204, dated October3, V1899.

Application filed June 3, 1899. Serial No. 719,181. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILIP DIEHL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means forLubricating Oran ks, of which the followingr is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention has for its object to provide means whereby the oil whichis applied to a rapidly-rotating crank to lubricate the bearing or jointbetween such crank and the eye of the pitrnan which it operates will beretained in the bearing or joint by centrifugal action -and will also becausedto circulate in such bearing or joint by such action instead ofbeing expelled or thrown off, as heretofore, leaving the bearing orjoint dry. Much difficulty has been encountered in the operation ofhigh-speed sewing-machines running at from eighteen hundred to twothousand five hundred or more stitches per minute (repre- Senting fromeighteen hundred to two thousand five hundred or more rotations of thedriving-shaft per minute) by the heating of the crank of thedriving-shaft at its joint with the ptman connecting said shaft with theshuttleshaft below,this difficulty arising from the fact that thelubricating-oil was quickly thrown off or expelled from the joint bycentrifugal action, leaving the joint dry. I have remedied thisdifficulty by making the pitman strap or eye wider than that part of thecrank against which it bears and providing the said pitman strap or eyeat the sides of the bearing portion of the crank with oil grooves orpockets, forming receptacles into which the oil which would otherwise bethrown 0E by centrifugal action is forced by such action into these re'ceptacles as the crank revolves, these oil grooves or pockets havingimperforate outer walls and being preferably connected across thecrank-bearing by transverse oil grooves or ducts, so that the oil canfreely circulate in the joint or bearing, as will be hereinafter morefully explained.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a sectional elevationillustrative of my invention, and Fig. 2 is a transversesection of thesame on line 2 2, Fig. l. Fig. 3 isadetail inside view of thepitman-cap.

A denotes a portion of a rotary shaft provided with a crank b, having aconvex or ball-like bearing portion c, encircled by the strap or eye ofa pitman d. The bearing or acting portion c of the crank instead ofbeing .continuous around the inside of the eye of theV pitman, and saidannular grooves are preferably connected with each other across thebearing portions of the pitman eye or strap, and consequently across thebearing portion of the crank, by transverse grooves f, formed in theinterior of said eye or strap and opening at their ends into the annulargrooves or oil-pockets c.

From the foregoing it will be understood that any oil which is appliedto the crank to lubricate the same will when the said crank is inrotation be forced outward by centrifugal action into the annulargrooves or oilpockets e in the eye of the pitman, and this sainecentrifugal force will have a tendency to cause the oil to seek to reachthe higher or outer portions of the ball-and-socket bearing of the crankand strap, this tendency of the oil to enter and remain in the bearingbeing assisted by the transverse grooves f. Owing to the fact that thebearing portion c of the crank not only turns or rotates on its ownaxis, but also revolves in an orbit around the axis of the shaft A, theoil in the oil grooves or pockets e f will be kept in constant movementor circulation when the crank is in operation, being forced against oraway from the surface of the bearing portion c of the crank according towhether such surface may be at any time on the outer or inner side ofthe orbit (denoted by thedotted circle a: in Fig. 2) described by theaxis of the bearing TOO portion of the crank. This action will beunderstood from Fig. 2, from which it will be seen that in the positionsof the parts in full lines the tendency of the oil will be to move tothe left, so that the oil in the groovcsfon right or inside part of thebearing or joint will be forced against the ball or bearing portion cofthe crank to keep the same lubricated, while when the crank hastraveled around to the position denoted by dotted lines in Fig. 2 theoil in the grooves fat the left of the bearing will be forced againstthe ball or bearing portion of the crank; also, this same action isconstantly going on with reference to other positions of the revolvingcrank. Thus the oil in the grooves j" in the top of the pitman-cap (U,and which when the crank is at the top of the dotted circle :t is forcedaway from the ball or bearing portion c of the crank, is thrown againstsaid ball or bearing portion c when the crank is at the bottom of itsorbit of rotation and the oil in the bottom portion of the pitman strapor eye and which is forced upward against the bearing portion c when thecrank is at the top of its orbit will be thrown downward when the crankreaches the bottom of its orbit.

From the foregoing it will be understood that my invention providesmeans whereby centrifugal force which has heretofore served to expel thelubricating-oil from the crankbearing is utilized to retain the oil inthe bearing or joint and cause it to circulate therein, so that when oilhas once been applied to the crank it will stay there indeiinitely andthe diiiiculty arising from want of lubrication of rapidly-rotatingcranks is wholly avoided, as has been demonstrated by practice.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting my invention to the detailsherein shown and described, as the invention is capable of use inconnection with other forms of cranks or rotating devices for operatingpitmen than that herein illustrated; also, the proportional sizes of theoil pockets or grooves may be varied as may be required or the saidgrooves may be of different forms or the transverse grooves f might rundiagonally or across each other, all without departing from the essenceof the invention.

Having thus described my invcntion,I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patentl. The combination with a rotating crank, of a pitmanhaving an eye or strap which is wider than the bearing portion of saidcrank, and the interior of which eye or strap is provided with oilgrooves or pockets at the sides of the said bearing portion of saidcrank and which oil grooves orpockets have imperforate outer walls, sothat the oil will be retained therein by centrifugal force.

2. The combination with a rotating crank, of a pitman having an eye orstrap which is wider than the bearing portion ot' said crank, and theinterior of which eye or strap is provided with oil grooves or pocketsat the sides of the said bearing portion of said crank, said eye orstrap being also provided with interior transverse oil grooves orpockets connecting said first-named grooves or pockets.

3. The combination with a rotating crank having a convex or ball-likebearing portion, of a pitman having an eye or strap which is wider thanthe said bearing portion of said crank and the interior of which eye orstrap is provided with annular oil grooves or pockets at the sides ofsaid bearing portion, and which oil grooves or pockets have imperforateouter walls so that the oil will be retained therein by centrifugalforce.

4. The combination with a rotating crank having a convex or balllikebearing portion, of a pitman having an eye or strap which is wider thanthe said bearing portion of said crank and the interior of which eye orstrap isprovided with annular oil grooves or pockets at the sides ofsaid bearing portion, said eye or strap being also provided interiorlywith transverse oil grooves or pockets connecting said annular grooves.

In testimony whereof I ai'iix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

PHILIP DIEIIL.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. MILLER, Hai-:OLD W. lnowN.

